


I kissed a girl

by orphan_account



Category: Sam & Cat (TV), Victorious, iCarly
Genre: Coming Out, F/F, Femslash, First Dates, Food, Girls Kissing, Relationship Advice, Romance, Underage Drinking, can u belieb i didn't post this?, honestly idk what else to tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-01
Updated: 2016-07-20
Packaged: 2018-07-19 13:02:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 19,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7362445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You know what they say about Northridge parties: sweaty, sexual, and smelly. However, no one told Cat it would come with kissing her inebriated best friend!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Northridge Parties

**Author's Note:**

> imported from ffnet; i can't believe i didn't post this here wow  
> and yeah i did tag victorious and icarly for views shut up  
> rockybluewigs (ffnet) bisexual-leo-dooley (tumblr)

I can't believe Sam persuaded me to attend this party. I hate parties like this, when everything smells like sweat and alcohol, and people are staring at you, and all that jazz. The only reason she did is because she heard it from some Northridge girl when we went to Inside-Out Burger last week, and of course, the Northridge girl wants the former web star to attend.

However, I couldn't believe on our actual day-off from babysitting, she simply lied to me to get me to go to a party.

Now, I'm sitting on the dirty couch owned by some person I barely know, while Sam's somewhere else, and all I can see in my vision is girls and guys dancing, kissing, and mingling. Just a minute ago, I had to walk away from a couple that was making out right in front of me, and it isn't pleasant to see two drunk people kissing sloppily.

I wish my other friends were here with me, since they wouldn't leave me alone to fend the crowd.

I feel the couch lowering, and a ghost of someone sitting next to me and getting closer. I freeze; I barely know this person, yet they reek and they're sniffing my hair, touching my hips, and placing their chin on my shoulder. "Hey little red," the person speaks in a low voice, with a nickname that only one person calls me (and that person is allowed to call me that). I turn around, and it throws them off, sending their head against the soft pillow. I stare at the person with disgust, but realizing who it is, I feel the color of my skin drain away.

"Sam? What are you doing?" I ask, despite the heavy dubstep music draining most of my voice. "You scared me!"

"I...I was hoping you would wake up from your trance and have some fun!" She slurs, with her hands in the air. "You barely...done anything since - since we got here."

"I don't like Northridge parties," I reply with a small voice.

"You will," Sam gets up, and stumbles over to me, grabs my wrist, and drags me over to the hallway. I pass by so many Northridge kids and some Hollywood Arts kids that I don't know but seen before. I heave a sigh, and let the stronger blond take me somewhere, which now I realize is the kitchen (or rather, kitchenette) and hands me a shot glass. "Bottoms up, Cat."

"No," I frown, while she takes her own drink and downs it in a quick second.

"It's jello," she points out.

"Ooh, jello!" I squeal, and tilt my head up to enjoy the jello in a shot glass. However, as I swallow it, I feel the alcoholic burn of vodka travel down my throat. "There is no way in hell that this is jello! You trickered me!"

"Want some skittles?"

"Ooh, skittles!" I cheer, and she takes me over to a table where there's a row of rainbow-colored shot glasses. "I want _actual_ skittles, not skittle juice."

"There's skittles in there!"

I frown, but I try the red-colored one, and it's sweet. However when I swallow it, I still feel a numb, alcoholic burn. Ignoring the burn, I take the orange, and the yellow, then the green, then the last one, purple. By the yellow drink, the burn is gone and all I taste is its sweetness; the usual taste you get from eating skittles. "I like this one!"

"You'll like this better," she gives me another shot of a clear liquid, and gives me a suggestive look.

"What is it?" I ask, with a bit of a slur.

"Ever heard of a body shot?"

My eyes widen; already I don't like the idea, but the look on her face and my half-inebriated state isn't willing me to say no. Clearing the table, She props up on it, and pulls her shirt up.

"Okay, the only thing you have to do is lick the salt off, drink the liquid, and I'll show you where the lime wedge is." She sprinkles a small amount of salt from the top of her navel almost to the clothed area of her bra and then stares at me with a Cheshire grin.

I look at the glass, then back at her, then back at the glass. With a short grimace. i lean down to her stomach, and quickly lick the salt off with a whimper, then down the shot glass with the unknown liquid. I cough a little, tasting the salty-alcoholic stuff mix in my mouth as I swallow the rest of it. "Ugh, that wasn't pleasant. Where's the lime wedge?"

She quirks both of her eyebrows, and I see the small lime wedge appear between her teeth. "Really? It was in your mouth the whole time?" I roll my eyes and then reach over to take it from her mouth, but she swats my hand away.

"Not with your hands," she muffles.

My eyes narrow; how am I going to get it without using my - _oh_. Well, now I realize how sexual this game gets. I sigh and lean in to get the wedge using my mouth. She just lies there, staring at me with the wedge between her teeth. I bite on the sour citrus fruit, and the juice hits my tongue, but then the fruit disappears in my mouth and her lips crash onto mine.

I'm almost taken aback, and I don't move while her lips start moving. She tries to sit up, and that's when I start move, kissing back eagerly.

It's definitely the alcohol talking, not me. However, compared to her, I'm not drunk at all. However, I'm enjoying whatever this is. The lime's still in my mouth, but as my mouth opens, her tongue enters mine, and takes the wedge back. Pulling away quickly, she spits it out into the other corner, and kisses me again, while she completely stumbles up to level. I hug her waist closer to me, deepening the kiss further, while she tangles her fingers in my red hair.

I hear a very high-pitched wolf whistle, and I pull away suddenly, with a deep blush darker than my red hair. I look over and there's a small crowd whistling at the both of us. "Mmmm, we should do that again!" Sam mumbles into my ear, which causes me to shudder.

I narrow my eyes at the lecherous crowd, and grab her wrist to walk away from the crowd, the party, and the house.

The night air hits my face, and it starts to turn my face red, while I'm still a little affected by the very little alcohol I drank just now. My mouth tastes like lime and skittles, my friend is mumbling and grinning, and there's no way to get home since we're pretty far from the apartments. None of us are sober enough to work a motorcycle, so I pull out my phone and randomly dial a number I know best.


	2. Vulnerability

A large van pulls out in the corner, and I hear a beep. I sigh and pull an inebriated Sam over to the car, and I push her inside of it. "Hey! Can you fit a motorcycle in here?"

"I'm gonna try, but don't guarantee it," a sleepy Trina replies, stepping out of the car slowly. "Just get in the van. Your friend is pretty much...done for the night and she probably needs you. Thoroughly speaking, my dad doesn't know I left the house with his van and I don't want to clean vomit off the floor."

I get inside the fairly large car, sitting next to Sam who looks like she's about to sleep in the next minute. I heave a sigh while her head falls on my shoulder. Resisting the urge to pull her closer, I look outside the window to watch other Northridge students pooling out of the house. I hear some adjusting and some grunting, and I look behind me to see Trina struggling to fit the motorcycle into the van her father uses for important stakeouts.

After a few tries, the motorcycle fits inside the van perfectly, and she closes the van doors. She quickly enters the driver's seat, and starts to drive away from the house at normal speed.

"I'm surprised you called me instead of anyone else," she starts, glancing at me once with a quirked eyebrow. "They would have helped you out, no matter what."

"Yeah, but they would also try to ask questions about why I'm at a Northridge party, and then judge me about going," I say quickly.

The older girl shrugs, keeping her hands on the steering wheel. "From what I heard, you hate Northridge parties. My dad hates them too - he always raids a party at least twice every month."

"Oh," I cast my head down. "I just came here because Sam dragged me here and well, she needed a sober friend...or at least someone half-sober enough to call one of her friends."

"Half- _sober_? Did little miss Caterina had her _first_ alcoholic drink?" She gives me a wide grin, while still keeping her eyes on the road. "Wow, what a different twist of events."

"It was her idea, I swear!" I exclaim.

"Don't worry, your secret's safe with me," she waves off. "I wouldn't tell anyone unless you want me to."

"I don't think they would appreciate the thought of me doing that," I frown. "We wouldn't have come here if we were babysitting today."

"Ah, I heard you were doing that," Trina nods, stopping at a red light. "I have to say, I don't think anyone was ready to know that your babysitting partner was Sam."

"I'm surprised you didn't try to harass her," I reply; the alcohol is making me a bit truthful and I'm not sure I would want to enjoy that, especially when I found a friend in Trina and she's a bit sensitive. Of course, my friends usually judge her and I'm used to it already when I shouldn't.

"Why would I?" She shrugs, driving away from the neighborhood I used to live. "I stopped that nonsense. Too much restraining orders would make my college resume look really bad."

"But you're already in college—"

"Cat…" I hear Sam mumble, with her eyes closed, and she rolls her head further on my chest. The only thought going through my head (besides the thought of her kissing me) is for her not to vomit on me.

"Don't worry. We're almost home," I mumble, while she nods off to a sleep again. Trina does some more careful driving, swerving away from a pothole, while I try to keep my composure from either pushing her off or pulling her closer to me.

It was only one minute of innocent, yet drunken kissing; she'll never remember it! However I will, and I'm pretty sure I will never forget it since I wasn't that drunk to begin with. What if she does remember it - would that mean she would think everything's weird and stay away from me? Would she put it into her unconscious and never try to remember it ever again? All I know is that my lips are still tingling from that kiss - drunken or not, I still liked it.

Ugh - I kissed a girl, and I _liked_ it. Surprisingly, she wasn't wearing cherry chapstick.

The apartments come into clear vision, and with a stop, Trina kills the engine. "I'll get the motorcycle. You try to get Sam into bed."

"Thanks a lot, Trina," I give her a grin, and she only nods her head before walking to the back of the van.

Here we go, I think - I open the door and step out of the car, and Sam immediately falls into the car seat. I heave a tired sigh as I pull her out of the car, and partly drag her inside the apartment building. Since we live on the first floor, I drag her over to the front door, and with my keys in my hand, I open the door.

The lights immediately turn on the apartment, and again, i carry the now-sleeping Sam over to our shared room. She whimpers lightly, and I see her eyes flutter shortly. "Cat...I don't feel so good."

Perfect timing. "We're home already," I point out, while setting her on the floor. Her eyes open a little, and her cheeks flush. Suddenly, her hand covers her mouth, and she opens the door to the bathroom, where she starts throwing up her stomach contents inside the toilet bowl. I sigh and start holding her hair up, while she continues to throw up and dry heave.

My nose wrinkles in disgust; I can't decide what's worse - throwing up yourself, or watching someone else do it.

She stops, and her head rests on the bowl. I let go of her hair and flush the toilet for her. "Ugh, I don't think I'm drinking again until I turn 21," she whispers, while getting up from the floor and brushing her teeth to remove the aftertaste of bile from her mouth.

"Do you think you can ever drink again after that experience?" I retort.

She growls under her breath, and spits the toothpaste one last time before rinsing. "I wanna sleep," she says, her mouth full of water.

Watching that made me giggle slightly - despite the little act, it's cute to see her talk with water in her mouth, having it dribble down to her shirt. "You messed your shirt up."

"Whatever," she slurs, and then stumbles over to the door, but almost slips. I catch her in time, and we both walk slowly over to our room. I follow her to her bed, and help her take her clothes off, starting with her boots. she lies back and her eyes start to flutter close again.

I drop her shoes over to the corner of her end table, and with a blush and short hesitation, I unbuckle her jeans, and pull her jeans down slowly. I bite my lip, noticing the Vegas panties staring back at me and her legs shaking slightly, almost like she was anticipating something.

I ignore most of the thoughts running through my head and remove the rest of her jeans, placing them on the floor. I pull her up and grab the hem of her cropped shirt, and pull it off. I leave her t-shirt on, if she freaks out in the morning that I stripped her down to her underwear with no wonder.

I adjust her to the bed and cover her legs so she doesn't start to get cold, and while she sleeps soundly, I get ready for bed. I watch her closely, wondering how a drunken night can turn into one of the most awkward moments of my life, especially when she kissed me not too long ago, and I was just as eager as she was. Despite the alcohol in my system, I know I would remember a lot from tonight, especially that kiss, and the fact that I strip her down to her underwear with mental images in my head that aren't supposed to be there.

I cover my legs under the blanket and try to fall asleep, however despite the alcohol in my system, sleep definitely did not come easy.


	3. The Morning After

With great difficulty, I pick my head up - I see Sam still sleeping on her bed and I still have fresh memories of last night. Good thing today's a Saturday, because I don't want to go to school, hearing some juicy rumor about how someone from school saw me kissing Sam last night.

I swing my legs over to the floor and my feet collides with the sheets I kicked off from last night. Since I wasn't drunk, I don't experience any hangover symptoms, but I'm pretty sure the only thing I consumed last night was alcohol, so I walk over to the kitchen to get some water. My phone starts to buzz, so I pick it up to see a few notifications on The Slap, which aren't very important. I ignore the stupid comment fights and the usual (especially the constant messages by Robbie) and after realizing nothing's really important, I place my phone back on the counter.

I hear a door slam, and the hardwood floor squeaking. Taking another sip of water, I watch as Sam enters the living room with bed hair. "Who turned the lights on?" she groans.

"The lights aren't on—"

"Inside voice, please," she groans again, and I throw my hands up in defeat. "What happened last night? All I remember was going to the party and drinking punch...and then the rest is a blur that I'm pretty sure is hangover-induced."

"Uh...to be honest it's all a blur too," I lie quickly, with a small chuckle.

Sam eyes me quickly, but then dismisses it. She turns away and puts her head on the counter. "This is the last time I would ever attend a Northridge party!"

"Well, you know what they say about Northridge parties: sweaty, sexual, and smelly!" I joke, trying to hide my lie-induced impediment so she wouldn't think something's up. After people started noticing that I start talking differently to cover up a lie, I try to control it. "I don't attend those parties for a reason."

She grabs the pitcher and a cup from the dish rack and pours herself a cup of water. "I feel so nauseous, but I already emptied what I ate from the past day." She takes a long swig, and sighs. "Hey Cat, do you know how to cure a hangover?"

"No," I reply. "You can look online."

"Whatever," she waves off, and I walk over to the laptop and flip it open. I go to the search engine and type quickly 'how to cure a hangover' and they give me ways on how to treat a hangover because hangovers are apparently like colds - there is no cure. I click on the first link, and receive a very long explanation. "Too long, can't read," I mumble.

"What, what is it saying?" she asks, with a cup of water in her hand. She's so close to me that I can smell her after-drunken aroma, yet a faint of the fragrance she wore before the party. She reads it over, and sighs. "I'm not doing all that."

"Then at least stay hydrated, which is the only thing I can get from here," I reply. after a pregnant pause, she walks over to the counter and pours herself another cup of water. "Do you remember things when you get drunk?"

"Depends on how much you actually drink," Sam replies. "As for me? I'm pretty sure I'll remember tidbits, but I won't remember everything. I should go back over there and get my motorcycle before someone steals it."

"Actually, you don't have to," I say quickly. "My friend's sister picked us up. Her father is a cop and owns a couple of vans big enough to fit your motorcycle inside of it and she dropped it off right in front of the apartment building."

She nods in reply. "Oh good. I don't know what I'll do without my baby." She disappears into the hallway. I sigh - I hope she doesn't remember everything, but at the same time, I wish she would remember because I really liked it when she kissed me. I'm so confused that I fail to realize that the small goat just urinated on my foot. "Oh, Murf. that isn't the place to do your business!"

* * *

 

I hear the shower turn off, while i try to do my half of the stage decoration project while Tori does the other half. I decorate the makeshift stage, while she does the writing stuff, after we decided that I would be better off decorating. I sigh - even homework isn't distracting me from the memories of last night running through my mind like it happened 20 minutes ago. I hear the door open, and Sam is drying her hair while wearing my old robe.

"I thought you hated that robe," I point out, and she turns around quickly to see me sitting on my bed. "You asked me if I had one that didn't make you look like a vomiting rainbow?"

"Oh yeah, well...I kind of like it now," she gives me a smile, and snugs the robe close to her while sitting on the bed. "It reminds me of the day we met each other."

Hoping that I don't blush darker than the color of my hair, I give her a grimace back. "Well, you can keep it if you want."

"I thought it was already mine," she pegs back. "So I was thinking in the shower…" her face expression turns curious. "And I start remembering the last drink I had. It reminded me of skittles, and you were with me. That's all I can remember. It's all becoming somewhat clear to me, but I guess it isn't important to remember everything. We didn't get attacked or anything, or at least I think we didn't."

I repress a sigh of relief.

"Anyway, I'm gonna go back to sleep since we don't have to babysit until six, when Mr. Hunter's dropping his twins over here. Wake me up at five." she reminds me, and then lies down on the bed. Within minutes, I hear her snoring lightly.

I check the time, and it's only noon - five hours until we babysit another boy or girl...at least they're not Goomer. I could barely keep up with his allergies and medication. I can't keep up with  _my_ medication!

I continue my project, finishing right at four-thirty, thirty minutes before I have to wake up Sam.

* * *

 

"Ding dong," I repeat after hearing the doorbell, and then walk over to the door. Today, we're expecting a set of twins to babysit for a couple of hours while their father goes on a date. We never, ever babysat for twins, but I'm excited. I hope they're not too identical so I won't decipher between the two and mix them up.

I open the door, and a set of blond twins - no older than ten years old - stand right in front of me with shy grins. They're very identical in looks, but since they're wearing different clothing and hairstyles, I think I have a shot here. "Well, hello there!" I greet them happily, and they wave back at me.

"Thanks for agreeing on short notice. I'm Mr. Hunter," The older man, I assume is the father to the two little girls, tells me while giving me a small backpack. "It's just their homework. Alicia has to finish hers before doing anything fun, and Aislyn needs a bit of help with her math."

"I hate math!" Aislyn frowns. "I hate it, I hate it, I hate it!"

"You and me both," Sam agrees.

"Dad's going on a date with papa," Alicia grins, while both Mr. Hunter and I blush. "I think they're going to propose!"

"Aw, that's so sweet!" I giggle, while Sam quirks an eyebrow surprisingly. "Have fun on your date Mr. Hunter. They'll behave."

"I hope so," he looks at the little girls sternly, but then his expression turns playful. "I'll see you two little angels later. Alicia, finish your homework. Aislyn, no cookies after 7pm." He kisses their heads once, and then waves back, closing the door behind him.

"So...what homework do you have to finish?" I ask Alicia, while she looks around the living room with awe and fascination. "Your father specifically told me that you have to finish all of your homework before play-time."

"I have an English essay to finish, and I have to finish drawing for art," she replies. "For English, I have to write something or someone in my life that makes me happy, but I can't decide on two things."

"What's troubling _you_ in math?" Sam asks the other twin.

"Everything!" she replies. "Who thought it was a great idea to add letters in number equations? When am I ever going to need math in life? I just want to be a talk show host, not a mathematician!"

Wow, is it me or is her vocabulary a little too advanced? "Uh, we'll be in the back," Sam announces with a grimace. "...Discussing our burning hate of algebra."

"Okay," i relent, while Aislyn waves at me. I wave back and turn my attention to Alicia. "What are your two choices that's troubling you, Alicia?"

"I want to choose my two dads, but I also want to do art!" she explains. "Art makes me very happy, but watching my dad be with papa also makes me happy, because he's happy. We were only three when our mom left us because he told her he likes boys and it kind of made him sad, but he still took care of us. He met papa a year later. As for art, it makes me express my feelings in artistic ways. Plus I want to be an artist when I grow up." saying that in one breath, she inhales deeply. "So you understand my dilemma."

Despite the story being short, I feel tears threatening to fall. "Can you do both?"

Alicia shakes her head. "I can't do both. My teacher told me that I have to choose one, and then write about it in 100 words. The best story gets hanged up in the hallway. My best friend, and my sister, told me to do my dads, but then I thought it would be original to do something else. I - I don't want to be teased because I don't have a traditional family."

"You don't have a traditional family. You have a unique family," I assure her. "And I think that's pretty awesome. Since they inspire you, I think you should do your dads - you would make them very proud."

"I'll do it!" Alicia grins, and then reaches for her backpack. "But, how can I write it in 100 words?"

"It's easier to list the reasons why your dads make you happy first…"

* * *

 

"What is this game?" Aislyn questions, holding the game remote with curiosity.

"It's called...Evil Pirate Bears," Sam answers, putting on her 3D glasses. "It's really fun, despite the fact that it has no...gore."

"Yeah, no gore and guts and disgusting things," I add, with a giggle. "It does have a lot of stuffing!"

Both of the girls complete their homework in under an hour, and for the rest of the night until their dad comes back, we decide to play some video games, and then watch Girly Cow since there's a marathon in the next hour. Alicia instead wrote 127 words about her dads, and completed her art project, while Sam and Aislyn completed the relatively easy math homework. "Anyone want cookies?"

"Me!" Aislyn rejoices. "Are they chewy? i love chewy!"

"Okay, but after seven, no more cookies," I reprimand, while getting the plate of double-chocolate chip cookies from the counter, as well as a pitcher of milk. Since it's six-thirty, the girls can eat them for the time being. "Enjoy!"

"Ooh, chocolate!" Aislyn reaches over for the platter and starts eating them, one by one.

"Hey, save some for me!' Alicia exclaims, with a frown. "Sharing is caring!"

Aislyn relents, and gives the plate over to Alicia. She reaches over for a cup full of milk, and drinks it completely. She grabs the game remote, and they both start slaying stuffed pirate bears on a boat, with Sam, and I watch them closely.

I'm still surprised with the story Alicia told me about her fathers, while thinking a lot about last night. I still imagine the night in my head, especially that kiss - and wondering if Sam actually knew or remembered that it happened. Of course she didn't remember! Why would she? She clearly said that last night was a blur, but started remembering the last drink she consumed.

I'm not sure if she would remember the rest of the night, but until then, I won't mention it, or go to another Northridge party ever again.


	4. Stage Break-Ups

After Alicia and Aislyn went home for the night, I start cleaning the very bit of mess while Sam finishes the platter of double-chocolate cookies that Aislyn didn't finish because after 7, I took the plate from them. I take the cups and the pitcher still half-full of milk to the kitchen. "Well, that was fun."

"Eh, they're a bit talkative though," Sam muffles, her mouth full of cookies.

"They were fun, just admit it," I say, while taking the last cookie.

She rolls her eyes. "Whatever. I'm just hoping the next person we babysit doesn't have problems with math, or talks a lot about how she wants to be a talk show host in New York City along her man-crushes like Justin Bieber, One Direction, and Leo Howard."

"I thought Aislyn was pretty cute, but I did enjoy my talk with Alicia," I reply. Sam gives me a weird look, but I just shrug. "She told me a lot about her two dads. I think she was a delight."

"They have two fathers?" She gasps.

"Yeah, unless you did not get the memo where they were going on a date," I laugh. "...or that they actually got engaged during their date, just like Alicia predicted."

"I wasn't paying much attention," she yawns shortly. Of course she wasn't - it's unlike her to pay attention to much things, really. "I'm happy for them, though. I never thought two guys would ever get married in this state. Anyway, I'm going to bed."

I watch her retreating figure walk away from the kitchen and then disappearing into the hallway. I groan inwardly and put my head on the cool counter - I couldn't stop thinking about the night before, where she was so vulnerable and willing to kiss me, as well as the thoughts after the situation when I tried to take her clothes off so she could be comfortable, yet she was even more vulnerable that way.

I would never take advantage of anyone. That's why I don't act upon it. However, I'm gonna have to tell her because it seems like she won't remember that night.

* * *

 

I growl lowly - another night with barely any sleep, but I have school in a few hours and Sam has to wake up for online school. I lay on my comfortable bed while Murf sleeps comfortably on the plush carpet next to my bed and I hear light snoring from the other side of the room. I don't even go to sleep, especially with the dreams getting even more vivid each day. I couldn't even sleep at all on Sunday either, but I did spend the day at Elderly Acres to visit Nona during her Elder of the Month party, while Sam attempts (and succeeds) to video chat with her best friends.

Something needs to be done...eventually.

I keep lying on my bed until I hear my alarm clock going off. I turn it off and get off the bed, trying not to step on a still-sleeping Murf (despite the fact that he's sleeping on my slippers) to get ready for school. I have to carry the stage-decoration project to school since it's due, even though it can't fit in the basket of my bike. I wish I still had my old car, back when my parents didn't take it to stay with my brother at some mental asylum.

I can always make it work, though; it always works.

After a shower and deciding on what to wear, I leave my room and Sam is already sitting in front of her computer, waiting for the time to start her online classes. "Good morning, Puckle!"

"You know what, I'm just going to let that slide," she points at me, with a subtle grin. "One of these days, I'm going to change my contact on your phone to the proper last name."

I giggle playfully - "You know you like it when I call you Puckle." I retrieve some leftover pizza and root beer from the refrigerator, and pile it inside the blender glass. I turn it to mix, and the pizza starts mixing with the root beer together to make a smoothie concoction. "Breakfast is ready!"

I pour the smoothie into two cups - to go for me, since school starts in a few minutes. I grab my helmet and project from the coffee table. "I'll see you later!"

"Okay, have a good day at school!" she calls back, and I close the door behind me. I go to the front of the apartment where my bike parks nicely in front of, but a honk interrupts me. I turn, and I see my friend Tori in the driver's seat, waving over to me.

"Coming!" I put my helmet in the basket of my bike, and run over to the passenger's side of the car. "I didn't know you were taking me to school.'

"We have a project, remember?" she replies while waiting for me to put my seatbelt on. "Plus, it would be hard for you to fit the project in your bike basket so yeah."

"Thank you," I say nonchalantly, while we speed off to school. I drink on my pizza-root beer smoothie while she drives all the way to Hollywood Arts. Stopping at a red light, she stares at the cup. "What is that?"

"A super-awesome smoothie!" I cheer.

"What flavor is it?" She interrogates.

I shrug. "Pizza and root beer. It's really good though! You want some?"

"No, I'm fine," Tori waves off, with a look of disgust. The rest of the way there is silent, but eventually we get to school, where everyone is walking inside to their classes.

We both get out of the car and enter the buzzing hallway, where some of our friends are already talking among each other. I still have some pizza-root beer smoothie, so I keep drinking it. I don't know why, but this is pretty good. Thank you Sam for introducing it to me.

"Cat, what are you drinking?" Jade looks at the cup with pure disgust, while everyone else except Tori also stare at the cup with wonder. "That doesn't look like fruit."

"It's pizza and root beer!" I reply, with a giggle. they look at each other, with curious facial expressions. "What? It's actually pretty good!"

"Moving on to more serious things," Tori changes the subject before someone tries to call me out on how weird I am or something. "We should head on to class. You know how Sikowitz gets when we're all late together."

* * *

 

"Day three of stage break-ups!" the eccentric teacher announces, after the bell rings. I sit between Jade and Andre, awaiting another fun exercise by one of my favorite teachers. "I hope you're excited as I am, because it's going to be fun!" Since we've been learning stage break-ups for a couple of days, I guess we have to do some improv assignment... "Now this is an in-class assignment, where I will assign a partner and you have to make up a scene where the two of you breaking up from a relationship. It has to be relatable, and to add in a twist, you will not read lines or anything."

I sigh, and listen up so I can hear who would be my partner. "Tori, you're with Beck."

I see Jade's face harden, and Tori shift uncomfortably in her seat. Despite being friends, the issue with Tori and Beck is still a sore topic.

"Cat, you're with Robbie." I immediately stiffen - oh god no. This cannot be happening. I haven't talked to him since the pajelehoocho incident, and I still think he wants to try a relationship with me. I was willing, until I met Sam, that is. I hear a distinct smart-alec comment from his puppet, and I really, really hope he doesn't bring him up while we do this exercise.

"Jade, you're with Andre." She relaxes, however she still is uneasy about her boyfriend and a scene with Tori. I completely understand, because well, Tori did kiss her boyfriend on her second day here.

All I know is that this exercise would be pretty interesting. 'Wow me, put some plot twists! Don't make it a cliché scene! First up, Tori and Beck."

* * *

 

By the time it was time for Robbie and me to go up on the stairs, I clap for Tori and Beck's performance, which Sikowitz wasn't really impressed with. Of course, he's never really impressed about our performances.

"Okay, Cat! Robbie! Please impress me!" he yells while I go on stage, while Robbie sets his puppet on his seat before following suit. "Lights! Camera! Action!"

I don't know what to say or do, but it is improv - he starts with a simple "You needed to see me?" For good measure, he leans in for a hug, but I flinch immediately.

"We need to talk," I announce, with a serious tone I usually use for acting. "It's about us. I...I don't think this is working out."

"What do you mean?" He questions, with false hurt in his eyes, but I know he has a bit of real-ness into it. "I know I've been distant, but I'm willing to make it work."

"No, it's not you, it's me!" I flinch at the horrible cliché, but after saying it, I immediately got an idea. I think it would be a sudden plot twist. "Don't try to think this is your fault. It's mine."

"Is there someone else?"

I turn around, trying to avoid his face. I know this is acting, but to me, it's becoming a little more serious than this. I think this is what Sikowitz really wants - some emotion, and a plot twist. He walks over to the other side, and tilts my head. "Tell me. Is there someone else?"

I move my head away slightly. "I like a girl."

I hear some gasps, and from the corner of my eye, I see Sikowitz perk up in his seat. "You what? Did you cheat on me with a girl? Who is she?"

"Yes, yes I did, and I like her, a lot," I reply, immediately thinking of Sam while I sort-of-come out in an acting exercise. "Who it is, is none of your concern. All I know is that I can't keep lying about myself to you." I turn around and immediately run out of the classroom, letting the tears run freely.


	5. Oops, I Did It Again

Even though everyone thought it was acting, it's something real for me, and I couldn't take looking at my friends' disappointed faces if they really caught on. I really want to hear Sam's voice, but I just remembered that she's probably taking her English class now. I ignore that thought and start to call her, pacing the Black Box theatre while hearing the dial tone.

I hear a lazy greet after a few rings. "Hello?"

"Sam!" I exhale deeply feeling relieved and delighted to hear her voice even if she sounded completely lazy and tired.

"What's wrong, Cat?" She interrogates quickly, like she just raised up from bed and is ready to put her clothes on to save me. "Are you alright? Is everything okay at school?"

"I…I just wanted to hear - your _voice_ ," I confess, with a sharp sniffle. "I'm not having much of a good day at school."

There's a short silence, and for a moment, I thought she hung up on me. "Hello? Sam? Are you there?"

"I'm here, don't worry," she reassures.

I hear shuffling from the door, and I start to panic. "I'll talk to you later!" I exclaim, and before she replies, I hang up the phone and go through the other entrance. I know my friends are probably looking for me under Sikowitz's orders and they immediately think I would come here. Too bad, I'm not here anymore. I find another entrance inside the school and pass a couple of alcoves to the main entrance, where I see Tori exiting from the janitor's closet. "Okay so she isn't in…" she looks up and stares at me. "There she is."

"Please don't get everyone else here, Tori!" i exclaim. "Please - I don't need a group of friends ganging up on me, and you're the only one here! Please!"

She stares at me quizzically, but then she relaxes. "Okay. It's just that Sikowitz wants you back in class and we were just looking for you. He thought the performance was one of the best he's seen about stage break-ups."

"Oh." If only she knew the real reason I went with it. "Let's go back to class."

I sulk back to class, where six empty seats occupy the room. "Well, some of our students are back in class. I just hope everyone else walks in so we can continue with our exercise!"

I sit in a new seat next to Tori, where she sits next to the window and I sit next to no one in particular. After a few minutes, everyone else walks back in and sit in their respective seats. I sigh, knowing that there are four pairs of eyes staring holes in the back of my head. I know if I can skip lunch that maybe I can avoid them, and maybe Tori, even though we have stage decoration class later…

* * *

 

After school, I try to call Sam, but she doesn't pick up the phone at all. I can't call Trina since she's in school, and I'm trying to avoid all of my friends; Tori a little less. I don't know how to get home since I don't have my car, and my apartment is not a walking distance. I sigh and try to call Sam again. She shouldn't sleep at this hour, knowing that I may need a ride home.

But after the voicemail, I give up. I hear a loud honk and I turn to see Tori's car in the western part of the parking lot. I begrudgingly walk over to her car and enter the passenger's seat.

It's a very silent way over to my apartment building, while I look at the window in front of me and Tori, who's focusing on the road, and nothing but the road. I don't think she's mad at me, but she clearly is a little weirded out at my distant actions. I ditched lunch to hide in the theatre again, and I barely spoke throughout the stage decoration presentation. Plus, I ran out of the classroom after a stage break-up exercise with Robbie.

Of course things would be weird.

After pulling in front of my apartment, I look at Tori, who looks back at me. "Thank you, for dropping me off at home." I open the car door, but a delicate hand on my wrist stops me. I turn back and she stares at me, with concern.

"If something was wrong, you'd tell me right?"

I gaze into her eyes - it's pretty clear that she suspects something's up with me. However, I would never reveal it. Tori's one of my closest friends so of course she would feel hurt over this. I don't want to hurt anyone, but I barely know what's going on myself. I just know that I like Sam, _a lot_ , and the only person who really knows is her sister. "Of course I would."

She only stares at me up and down before letting go. "I'll talk to you later," she says simply, and I exit the car. I walk over to my apartment and open the door to see Sam napping loudly in front of the television.

I close the door behind me, and then jump right on the sofa, where she bounces back and wakes up. "Don't kill me!" She yells, and then looks around the room perplexed. "What the hell?" she stares at me, and then exhales in relief. "Oh, it's you. I got scared for a moment."

"Yeah, I got that from your outburst," I reply.

"Anyway, enough about my nightmares - uh, is everything okay with you?" she questions. "You seem pretty sad on the phone earlier."

"I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?" I nervously laugh, and then get up from the seat, but she grabs my wrist, locking me in place. "Sam, I need to start on my homework. We're expecting the Carvers to drop their son here later and I would like to start it before it's on the back-burner of my mind until tomorrow."

"They don't come for another few hours," she points out. "I'm pretty sure your crazy teacher Sikowitz doesn't give you that much homework either."

"I have other teachers—"

"Sit, Caterina," she demands.

Sighing (she said my real name so of course it's serious business,) I comply. "What do you want to talk about?"

"You've been weird since the party," she comments, with a concerned look on her face. "Even though you'd tell your friends before telling me, is there something wrong? Did something really happen at the party that you're not telling me?"

"I told you already: nothing happened!" I lie.

Sam gives me a deeper frown, and I sense that she doesn't believe me at all. "Tell me the truth, Cat. Mama doesn't like being in the dark, seriously speaking."

"Okay!" I relent, casting my head down. "I didn't tell you everything that happened. I remembered everything that happened that night." Her eyes widen, and it looks like she was about to say something, but I interrupt. "Before you say anything, just remember that I didn't mean to, and it's not like you took your top off and declared your love to Freddie Benson."

With a grunt, she gives up and stays quiet. "Okay then, what happened?"

I tell her everything, from the drinks all the way to the kiss, and how we're picked up and I was the one who removed her clothes that night. She barely changed her flat expression throughout the story, however I don't tell her what the kiss really done, and how much of an effect it had on me. Not that it isn't a perfect time, but I needed to clear that up before I move further.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asks, with true disappointment shining in her eyes. "I barely remembered that night, and I counted on you to remember most of it, even though nothing wild happened."

"I didn't...I'm sorry," I defend. "I know I'm supposed to tell you the minute you recovered. But I thought it would be weird hearing that you had a little bi-curious moment while being inebriated."

I know that was a perfect time to tell her, but this was more important than my stupid crush.

"You're my friend, Cat. I think I would be comfortable kissing you, considering that I know you," she says, touching my shoulders. (Maybe there is some hope after all…) "But, let's just agree that we won't ever go to a Northridge party, no matter how bored we are on our day-off."

"Deal!" I smile back, and I embrace her closely. Instead of screaming 'not a hugger', she immediately hugs back, with no hesitation. I don't know what changed, but I'm glad it did. At least now, the hugs feel more earnest, and with more spark than before (or was it always there?). We both let go of each other, but not completely. Instead, we just stare at each other for what feels like eternity, yet I don't get bored.

Then, in surprise, our lips meet for the second time. It's sober, and not sloppy, yet it's the only thing I've thought of all week. With a growl, she deepens the kiss, and she leans back against the sofa. I move on top of her, kissing back with more eagerness. I feel her hands move down south - I whimper slightly, and I move my hips against hers in response.

We pull away, and she simply looks at me, her blue eyes twinkling. "Cat…"

A loud buzzing interrupts the both of us, and I literally jump off her. We both stammer for words, while the ringing still goes off. I reach for my bag and see that my parents are calling. I ignore the call - I'm not really interested with how my brother's doing and since Nona's in Elderly Acres, they would flip, knowing that I'm living in an apartment with someone they barely know - and we look at each other again.

"Uh…"

"I'm going to get started on my homework," I announce, and not waiting on a reply, I skip over to our shared room, where I slam the door behind me and let out a shaky exhale. Smooth, just _smooth_.


	6. Advice

Ding-dong - saved by the bell. I get up and run over to the door, where an older woman, with a child barely older than nine, looks at me with award-winning smiles. "Hey Mrs. Carver!" I greet happily, while the son casually walks in.

"If anything, he has the emergency numbers in his back pocket of his pants," Mrs. Carver tells the both of us when he pulls out the piece of paper. "Now Phillip, don't try to terrorize the babysitters. He's docile, but just make sure he takes his Ritalin in the next hour - they're in his backpack."

"Okay," I reply - it's the same medicine I used to take when I was his age…"He'll be fine, don't worry."

"We hope so!" she gives us another grin, and after a wave, she closes the door behind her and leaves.

Phillip stares at the both of us weirdly throughout the awkward silence. It's been pretty quiet since I kissed Sam, again, but now we're babysitting an attention-deficit child, one of my very few fears because I was just like him (and still is, by the way) and I temporarily blinded Goomer when we babysat for him not too long ago. Who knows what would happen, because he's a child, not a grown man.

"Why's your hair red?" he queries. Well, it's not something I was looking for to break the silence.

"I like it that way," I answer honestly. I stare at my phone - it's only been two minutes since his mom left so in 58 minutes, he has to take his medication. I may even forget, so I'm hoping that Sam would talk to me and remind me to take care of his medicine, or he's smart enough.

"So what do you wanna do? We have games, we have books - all types of books - and we have channels, in _glorifying_ HD," I ask, refraining from looking at Sam who's still trying to complete homework. "I'll do anything you want to do."

"Let's watch TV," he says, sitting on the couch. I shrug, and walk over to the TV set to turn it on. Sadly, besides a Drake & Josh marathon, there's nothing to watch. Well, there's nothing wrong with watching a classic…

* * *

 

Throughout the two hours, nobody speaks to each other, and I almost gave Phillip his medication too late. He remembered, but after watching the marathon, he was only distracted by the two step brothers trying to explain to their parents that their sister is evil. What also made me remember was that he started showing some withdrawal symptoms.

He stares at me, and then at Sam, who at this point joins us in watching television. "Are you guys always this quiet?"

I feel myself tense up - Of course a nine-year-old would detect that's something's wrong between two teenage babysitters. It doesn't help that it's the first time that we don't really say a word to each other for longer than a few minutes (besides the fact that we weren't speaking before that). I stare at her, while she stares back with the same concerned expression. "Uh—"

"Yeah, we are," Sam interrupts me and lies - "We like being quiet. We even play card games pretty quietly."

"No, we don't," I deny.

"What do you want to do?" she asks, ignoring me with a false smile - of course she isn't truly happy. It reminds me of the smiles on those Barbie dolls on a video Jade shared on The Slap. Too bad it was full of profanity. After the first f-bomb, I stopped watching it. "I have…" she walks over to the stack of video games and movies - "Evil Pirate Bears 3D, Boogie Bear, Vegetable Ninja, FruitTales, My Little Horsie, Rhoda Minnesota: The Movie, Fortnight..."

"We can go to Bots!" I suggest.

"I've been there already," he waves off, and looks at the movie-video game collection. "Ooh, Grand Hijack Auto!"

"NO! That game is violent and not for kids! It's not even in your age group!" I argue, immediately snatching the case away from the two. "Let's play Vegetable Ninja instead."

Phillip stares at me weirdly. "Okay, Vegetable Ninja it is."

* * *

 

When Phillip leaves after another hour of playing competitive Vegetable Ninja (and eventually Cookie Crush Saga), we clean up the mess in complete silence. We haven't said anything for hours, and when I sense someone not talking to me, I get worried. I mean, when Jade didn't talk to me for a week, I went berserk. Imagine Sam not talking to me for a few hours.

Yeah, I'm surprised I haven't freaked out yet.

I stop fixing the sofa, and turn towards the blond, who is currently throwing some trash out. "Sam?"

She stops, and it looks like she hesitates before staring back at me. "Yes?"

I refrain my flinch - I know she's probably mad at me. I've made a lot of people mad at me lately. However, the tension in the room makes me forget what I wanted to say. "Uh, nothing. I forgot what I was going to say."

She sighs and continues cleaning. A small tear trickles down my face, and I quickly wipe it before pocketing my phone and leaving the apartment without looking back. As soon as I leave, I feel more relaxed, yet the thought of being in the same room with someone who probably hates me stresses me out. She didn't even turn back to keep me from walking out. She probably would have bolted if I didn't.

"Cat? Are you okay?" I peer towards my right, seeing the 12-year-old Dice with an empty bag on his shoulder. I haven't seen him a lot, but seeing someone who probably isn't mad at me is more refreshing than I ever thought.

Without thinking, I run over and embrace him like a stuffed animal, drowning out his protests to put him down or that he couldn't breathe. I loosen most of my grip, but I still embrace the younger boy, feeling fresh tears stain his shirt.

"What's wrong?" Dice questions.

I don't answer; instead I softly sob on his prepubescent chest, feeling his hand pat me on the back. "Normally I would say this is embarrassing, but…"

"I'm sorry, I just - I needed to get away and…" I let go of him, and I sit on the steps to be at somewhat eye level with him. "You were the only person besides my Nona that's available and not mad at me. I'm so sorry for staining your shirt, and almost killing you with my hug, and—"

"Cat, it's okay," he reassures, his facial expression softening. "Is something wrong? Did you and Sam have a fight or something?"

"I don't know, but it seems like she's angry at me!" I sniffle, with more tears staining my face.

"What happened?" he questions, reaching in his pocket to give me a napkin.

I take it and barely wipe my face with it before setting it down. I don't want to tell him everything, because he's only 12 and he doesn't know much about teenage issues, but he's usually smarter than he thinks he is. "Long story short...I like Sam."

"Of course you do," Dice laughs, "You two are best friends. Friends like each other."

"NO! That's not what I meant!" I growl - of course he doesn't get the point! "I like Sam. Like-like her. You know, like how a guy likes a girl and is too scared to say anything. Like how you told me you liked that girl that lived in the upper building before finding out that she was actually a—"

"I get it," he deadpans. Seeing my hurt face, he immediately softens. "You two became really fast friends in two days, and even though I barely know Sam as much as I know you, I know that she deeply cares for you as much as you care for her."

"But how does that help me with what I feel?" I ask.

"When she took me to go replace your Nona's furniture with the That's a Drag furniture, I saw it as something more than just a friendly gesture for someone who doesn't want to see you cry anymore. She only met you a few days ago - I don't think she's ever done that for any of her friends back in Seattle, or would ever do that for someone she just met. Yeah, she covered it with her hard personality by demanding her to never call her 'sweet', but I still saw it. I'm young; I know what I'm talking about." Dice grins innocently, and fixes the strap of his bag.

"So what should I do?" I ask.

"Talk to her, I'm sure she'll understand," he replies. "Anyway, I have some deals to take care of. You're gonna be alright?"

I nod slowly, even though I barely mean it. When he finally disappears, there's only silence surrounding me throughout the apartment hallway. I don't exactly want to go back, but I know that eventually I would have to, since I'm trying to avoid my friends, and I can't sleep over at Elderly Acres, nor can I go to my old house since my parents confiscated the key. If I had my car, I would have driven over to my uncles - they would completely understand the situation but they may feel uncertain knowing that I'm living in an apartment home with someone I met in a garbage truck.

What to do, what to do.


	7. Just Not That Into You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fun fact: i was this close to naming this chapter 'into you' bc of ariana grande lol

I walk back inside the apartment, and it's clean and empty, except for Murf relaxing under the table. I don't see Sam anywhere, especially when the last time I saw her, she was cleaning. She probably went to our room, I think. However as I enter the shared room, she isn't there either.

Before freaking out, I check every room in the house, and settle on the backyard. Sam's motorcycle is still here, so she's obviously still here - she goes nowhere without it, unless it's somewhere like across the street. As I go deeper into the patio, I see Sam lying on the rubberized floor, with the firework machine next to her. There's barely a view, but since a few stars appear, it's a really beautiful sight.

I walk over and sit close to her, while she barely notices. I watch her look at the stars - with her eyes twinkling under the moonlight, with a deep thinking face. I want to say something now, but what if she just ignores me now? I mean, we're not in a fight, but we haven't talked to each other in hours and I recently broke down in front of a younger boy about it. I was willing to talk to him, but now I can barely talk to her.

Sensing my presence, Sam sighs deeply. "I thought you left to go talk to your friends."

"I didn't go very far," I admit.

"Oh." Sam averts her gaze from the stars and stares at me. "You alright, red? You look like you've cried recently."

"I'm fine; I've just been thinking," I reply, with earnest, even though I really was crying a few minutes ago. "I'm sorry for running away from you and then avoiding you all day. I just—"

"There's no need for an apology," she interrupts, while sitting up from the floor. "It just doesn't feel right, because there's _nothing_ you should feel sorry for."

Everything falls silent again, and the only thing I hear is the night crickets, surrounding the little street traffic not too far from here. Her eyes avert again and she stares at the sky again. "I have to admit, I don't know if being here or being in Seattle makes much of a difference if the streetlights are going to drown out most of the stars at night."

I only grin as a reply - I know what she's talking about, but I haven't seen this soft side of her a lot. Yeah, she decorated the house with the That's a Drag furniture, but it's covered with her obvious mask of deception. Of course, there's the thought of being closer to her again. It would be a perfect time to as well, but she keeps pushing me off, saying how much of an un-hugger she is.

Oh well - we've been closer than just normal, innocent, friendly (well, to her) cuddling. With very little hesitation, I reach for her hand, and pull her closer to my chest. To my surprise, Sam doesn't pull away nor does she yell or protest. Instead, she nests her head on my chest.

I could barely remember a time where I haven't felt more relaxed, yet I haven't felt so right when someone holds me this close. At least I know she isn't mad at me, and that whatever happened earlier was just a misunderstanding and a loss for communication, whatever that is.

Listening closely, I can hear her lightly napping on me.

* * *

 

"I'm taking you to school today," Sam tells me while grabbing two helmets from the cabinet. (Well, a little unplanned but okay.) "And we're getting breakfast burritos."

"Aw, I wanted pizza and root beer again!" I frown playfully, and she gives me a long stare. "Oh come on, you know you love it."

"That's because I introduced it to you," Sam reminds, and we both go through the back screen door. With ease, Sam pulls her motorcycle to the pavement, and then puts her helmet on. "It's the least I can do to get some more variety from pizza and root beer smoothies. Plus, I'm craving a burrito despite the last place putting a battery in my burrito."

"Gross," I recoil, while putting my helmet on. We both mount the motorcycle and I hold on to her hips while she prepares to leave the apartment. "There's a stand a block away from school and they don't give you batteries in your burrito."

"Good." With that, we both speed off to my school, while I give her directions from the shortcut I use to get to school at an easier pace.

She stops the motorcycle a block away from school, and we both get two breakfast burritos. While we wait for our burritos to be done, I see a flash of curly black hair walking towards my way. Oh no - please tell me he isn't going to attempt to talk to me, especially when I'm with the girl I used as an acting exercise to get him off my back - and to also excel at an acting exercise.

"Curly top, 12:00," Sam says, handing me my wrapped breakfast burrito.

"His name's Robbie," I tell her, while he gets relatively closer.

"I know that, but I like calling him curly top," she smirks evilly. "Plus I like calling Rex a puppet. It gets him angry."

"Don't be mean," I giggle, and start eating my breakfast. "Rex doesn't like it when he's referred to as a puppet. It's best to just imagine him as another person."

"Yeah, it's a little hard to do that," Sam shrugs, her mouth full of food.

At this point, he's already in front of me with a curious look. "We need to talk."

"Lucky Charms," Sam references, and gives me a short salute while walking over to her motorcycle.

"Honey Bunches," I wave back, while her motorcycle comes to life, and she's speeding back home. I barely notice it, but I just watch her disappear from the school, and eventually from my peripheral vision by turning a corner. I keep looking until I feel a tap on my shoulder. I turn around to see Robbie still trying to get my attention. "I'm going to class," I say shortly, and then sidestep away from him.

"Why are you avoiding me?" Robbie calls after me, while I keep walking. I feel his presence following me inside the school, and eventually my locker.

"Look, this isn't the time—"

"When would be the time to stop avoiding me?" He frowns deeply, staring at me with the same worry he had back when we were acting. I'm not even just avoiding him. I'm trying to get away from everyone. "I just want to talk to you...about us."

"We are _not_ having this conversation," I order, but I don't walk away from him. Instead I turn around and try to put my stuff in my locker. Either he gets the point and is trying again (because you know, it might be a one-time thing for boys who basically have cardboard cutouts of girls who like someone else) or he didn't.

"I told you man, she's just not that into you!" Rex informs; at least a puppet gets it!

"That's it, you're going in the bag!" with that, Robbie stuffs the puppet back in his bag and then stares at me. "I know you're not interested, and your heart's into that Sam chick. But I just felt that you actually had a thing for me back at the Full Moon Jam. What was that about then?"

"I did, but I don't know - things change," I admit, with a frown. "It's been what...a few months since? I never meant to make you think that we had something when I fell for someone else. I'm sorry for that. But that doesn't mean it's my fault."

"Yeah right," he scoffs. "I've always wanted what happened at the Full Moon Jam - to be with you and only you. I thought my dreams came true Cat, but obviously my dreams were crushed. You're not sorry, because you wouldn't have looked elsewhere if you truly liked me."

"Robbie, you're already my best friend! Isn't that enough?" I exclaim - where is all of this coming from? "You kissed me, you held my hand. It was all you; you, you, _you_! Just because I like someone else doesn't mean you have the right to _penalize_ me! Why should it matter if I like Samantha Puckett? I don't care if you don't like her; she's my friend, yet I like her way more than I should. She's more than that chick from the interwebz. She's _everything_ to me. I thought you would be the one friend that would be there for me, but the only thing you really care about is how you would look like if I was into you."

Receiving no reply, I slam my locker shut and speed off to class, hoping that I'm not late for another assignment.

* * *

 

Robbie's staring at me again, I think when I actually make an effort to go to lunch today. It's even worse when he's sitting with Andre and Tori, my other two friends. I suck it up and walk over to the three, gingerly sitting next to Tori, who notices me next to her. Robbie rudely gets up from the table and leaves, but no one (besides me) notices.

"Hey!" she greets rather happily.

"What's up, little Red?" Andre gives me his usual amused grin while calling me by that nickname I've grown to like.

It seems like nothing happened yesterday to the both of them. "Hi guys. Where's Beck and Jade?"

"Beck says they're talking," Andre replies, looking at his phone.

Tori pulls out her phone and glances at it. "Jade says they're...having intercourse with each other, which is codename for 'I'm still mad at you for being Beck's temporary girlfriend'." She grimaces, and turns her phone around before setting it on the table. "Doesn't matter, I rather have silence for the next hour than dealing with their first-world problems."

"Eh, it beats sitting here in silence," Andre rejects.

He goes back to doing his homework, and Tori peers over to me. "Are you okay? You've been silent all day."

"It's not important," I dismiss, even though I just revealed myself. I can never keep quiet - oh well.

"Remember what I told you yesterday? If something was wrong, you'd tell me," she repeats, while putting her hand on my shoulder. "Clearly something's bothering you. I'll even tell Andre to move to a different table."

"Hey, I'm right here!" He frowns deeply. But looking at the hard stare from Tori, he relents. "Fine. I'll probably go find Robbie or something." He packs up his books, and leaves the table, leaving me with Tori.

"So what's up? I feel like we haven't talked about anything besides our stage-decoration project in a while," she starts, which makes me feel worse than she intended for me to feel. "And what was yesterday about? You seemed adamant about not telling the others where you were."

"It's a very long story," I reply quickly, averting her gaze.

However, Tori doesn't seem phased by it. "We have an hour."

I explain everything - leaving absolutely nothing out, because she wants to know everything. Why should I leave anything out when she's my friend? Sure, I would tell Jade before anyone else, but she isn't here. Even if she was, she would spend all of her time with her boyfriend. I even tell her about this morning - when Robbie confronted me, and that's why he's so mad at me.

I can't deal with him hating me, but I won't stand while he singlehandedly blames me for liking someone else.

Her expression changes throughout the story, but she never interrupts me at all. She listens, and she doesn't show any judgement and just keeps listening to me.

"I thought you guys would judge me before helping me, or ostracize her for her choices while being drunk," I finalize, with a small frown. "I know she isn't the best person, but she's a really good friend, and roommate. Yeah, I wish she was more than that to me, but at least being her friend would be better than her hating me."

"You really do care about her," she gushes in awe, with an admiring grin. "I have to admit - you two would look cute, better than you and Robbie."

I start to blush, while she chuckles. "What? I'm being totally honest here!"

I open my mouth to reply, but then I stop when I see Jade approaching us, quickly, with her usual stare fixated on the both of us. By the time she's up to us, she raises her studded eyebrow, looking at the both of us quizzically. If I was crazy, I think she was sensing something's up between us. But when she opens her mouth, the bell goes off, and she has no time to speak as the both of us walk away from her.


	8. Chicago

I wait by the parking lot since Sam's picking me up today - she did take me to school anyway. It only has a few students staying around - none of them I actually know about. I try to both look out to see if she's coming and then looking at my phone to see if anyone texted or called me.

Sam eventually shows up, with her helmet on and the extra helmet on the back of the seat. She whistles as a signal, and I happily skip over to her, and she greets me with a wink. I put the helmet on and sit on the seat, immediately grabbing her hips to keep from flying away. Sensing that I'm snugly holding on, she speeds away from school.

Today we're not expecting to babysit (or at least that's what she told me) so we have the house to ourselves. I could get started on homework and actually finish it, and then enjoy the silence that only the both of us can get, but that would be boring. In under 30 minutes, we do get home, and we both enter the empty home. "Home sweet apartment," I announce to the particularly empty home.

"Yup, this apartment and me missed you," Sam jokes, and I try to ignore the light blush on her face. "After you finish your homework, what do you want to do?"

"Not go to another party?" I giggle.

Her face falls, and she raises her eyebrow. "Not what I meant. No, seriously; it gets boring in here sometimes, even though I like the quiet. Besides Murf urinating on my foot, there's no action that happens here."

"I'm pretty sure that's his spot," I point out.

"Maybe I should rename him Sheldon Cooper, because he does that every time, in that particular corner, where apparently we would see his wrath if we're in his spot!" she deadpans.

"Well, I'll probably think of something when I'm doing my homework," I say, already on my way to the island, where I sometimes do my homework. Given that there's rarely any to be done…"Or if you think of something—"

"No no, last time I picked a place," she dismisses. "You have to choose."

"Depends, are you in the mood for sushi or buffalo nuggets?"

* * *

 

We pull up in the front of Karaoke Dokie, where tonight is musical night - anyone who participates in karaoke can sing from a musical. That's when I see a recognizable car in the front. I wish we would actually be alone (no, not _like_ a date!) but whatever - I can't control their choices. We walk inside and with barely any difficulty, we take the first available seats for two people. On the other side of the room, I see Beck with Jade apparently on their own date.

While I hope they don't notice me, I already sense that if they don't notice now, they would notice later when they're leaving.

"So, what is this place?" Sam asks, while looking at the menu in front of her. "Buffalo nuggets - sounds good."

"I told you already, it's a karaoke bar with awesome buffalo nuggets!" I answer, with a smile and a very subtle look at the couple, while Jade gets up and goes to the bathroom and Beck sits by himself. "Not only do you get awesome food, you get to sing along to any song of your choice! Tonight, anyone can sing from any famous musical; from Broadway to Disney."

"Yeah, I'm just here for the food," she points over to the menu, while I sit back.

"Oh come on, wouldn't it be awesome?"

"How about we just sit, eat, and watch the amateurs horribly sing to a stupid song?" it isn't a suggest; more like a demand. I don't know - the few times I've been here, I actually did some karaoke, except for that time when I was temporarily banned from singing here.

"Kay kay," I whisper, with my head cast down.

"Oh come on, it would be fun!" she smirks. 'Buffalo nuggets, tone-deaf idiots, and overall, hanging out with an awesome gal with red hair. I think that's better than drinking spiked punch at a Northridge party."

I try to hide the impending blush again - "But it would hurt their feelings. What if we just watch them and not be mean?"

"Aw, you take the fun out of the situation." Even though she says that, she's still going to do it because that's how she is. It might be fun, but I'll never admit that, nor would I actually take part in it, much like how Jade would. As a matter of fact, unless I'm crazy, she's staring at me.

"Your _favorite_ person is looking at us," I whisper. Sam turns around, and I see a clear snarl on her face.

"Oh great, _more_ drama," she mutters. "She's the only person in your group that hates me."

"Jade doesn't hate you! She's just...protective of me," I reply, even though it's far from the truth. We haven't really talked in a long time, and when we do, I'm always in some adventure with her or fighting with her on some guy. Plus, when she met Sam, she was immediately judgemental while everyone else was in awe because I'm rooming with a celebrity.

"Right, like telling me she would cut me open is being protective," she rolls her eyes.

Sam just puts the menu on her face again, and I barely look at mine, looking straight at her with a clear smile on my face. I barely know that I'm staring longer than expected until she looks up, and nervously laughs. "You alright, red?"

"Wha—oh," I shake my head, and try to hide my face. "Sorry."

* * *

 

"Cat, you were wrong."

My head snaps up; "What? I'm wrong? Where?"

"You told me these were awesome," she says flatly. "They weren't, at all. They were more than awesome."

I breathe a sigh of relief. "You scared me! I thought you were going to hate me for saying how good they were when you didn't like them." What should've given it away was the fact that her plate is empty, but I forgot to look. "Well, I'm glad you liked them."

"I think they're preparing for the first act of the night," she turns around to see two girls (Hayley and Tara, exactly) standing in front of the stage. Oh no - I hope they're not singing. "Wow, those two girls look _desperate_."

"You have no idea," I whisper to myself.

I watch as they smile falsely to the audience, even though everyone doesn't like them very much. I thought they stopped singing after they were proven to be bad singers (even _Trina_ is better than the both of them) and lost a bet, but apparently they're still here. When the disc jockey announces them, the crowd slowly claps (besides me) and the tune 'Surf's Up' in that Disney movie that had West Side Story on a beach.

Of course, they haven't got _any_ better.

"Wow, these girls are horrible!" Sam laughs uncontrollably, and I try to stifle a laugh. The audience look among each other with looks of pity and humor. "Anyone in this audience is better than them."

I giggle behind my hand; even though it's mean, it's still funny and true. At least they're almost done - I'm pretty sure people would be happy about that. "That's so mean."

As soon as she starts to reply, the song stops, and everyone claps pitifully. Remembering Jade's exact words from the last time we came here - "Yeah, they're clapping because it's over!" - somehow it applies here. "Really? That's not being mean. That's being honest."

I feel my phone vibrate in my pants pocket, and as soon as another group of six kids get on stage, I check it to see that Jade texted me from across the room. I glance at her, and she silently tells me to read it. I open the unread text, and it says, _"What are you doing here with butter sock chick?"_

Even though they hate each other, it doesn't mean that they don't call each other witty nicknames. For Jade, Sam calls her 'scissor female dog' or 'girl with stick up her butt' yet I don't stop them from fighting because that's how Jade got along with Tori. "Really, is scissor bitch texting you from across the room?"

I glare at her. "Stop it. You know how I feel about those words."

"Sorry, my mistakes. Why is scissor _female dog_ texting you when she can easily come here?" She repeats clearly.

"She was just asking me why I'm here with you," I reply, while quickly sending her a text that answers her question. "Not that important, really."

I put my phone away and the six kids start to sing. "Pop! Six! Squish! Uh-uh! Cicero! Lipschitz! This is one of my favorite songs from Chicago! One day you should watch Chicago with me - it's a really great movie and musical."

"Mama doesn't watch musicals," she raises an eyebrow.

"Well you should watch this one," I give her a pleading smile; maybe she'll agree to it (and it would be like a date thing; is that movie still on Netflix?) "Plus, you said you used to watch musicals with Carly; how am I any different?"

"For one, you're a redhead," she observes; even though it wasn't meant to hurt me, I still frown, obviously offended. "Okay, whatever. but because I really like this song. Plus, the musicals she put on were cheesy...Disney musicals, to be exact."

"The Little Mermaid is one of my favorites though," I pout.

"Watched it like, sixty times when I was younger," she points out. "However...don't tell anyone this, but Mulan was the best. Anything with fighting and breaking the gender barrier is pretty awesome in my book."

The thought of Sam watching a Disney movie voluntarily makes me giggle. I couldn't control it, especially when it makes her raise an eyebrow after a long time of uncontrollable giggling. The thought is more cute than I thought it would be. "I'm sorry, I just...imagining you watching a Disney movie without me forcing you to seems pretty funny...and cute. Funny cute."

With that, the both of us enter a very awkward silence and start getting red in the face, while the song ends and the group get a standing ovation.


	9. Fat Cake Flattery

After watching a couple of karaoke shows, we decide to go home. It's barely 8, and I don't usually go to bed until close to midnight so to pass the time, we would enjoy our day away from working by watching movies of our choice. Having this conversation earlier, Sam wants to watch Fight Club, and I want to watch a movie that Tori suggested for me to watch - But I'm a Cheerleader.

Barely knowing the content, I search the movie, and now I feel the need to punch Tori in the face. She suggested a lesbian movie, for Pete's sake; and I didn't ask for her to do so. She just said for her to get the point, but that's not the point at all.

Oh well - at least she didn't get the subtext from it.

As soon as we reach home, the light turns on automatically and I dump my bag on the floor, immediately taking the sofa. "Home sweet apartment!"

"Yeah, it missed you too," she deadpans, and walks over to the television set. "We're watching my movie first!" she announces, while pulling out the case. I sigh - I never watched this movie, and every time I stay over at Jade's house, it's either 13, The Scissoring, or Disney movies. Tori's house is usually any type of movie, or musical. Just recently I introduced her to the wonderful world of RENT. "Alright, there we are."

Sam turns around and sits on the sofa, right next to me. We're so close that my arm and thigh brush against hers. "This movie's so actioney that you may love it."

"What makes you think so? It has violence between hoodlums!" I frown.

Sam pats my head delicately. "Don't worry. There isn't too much action. Plus it gives you very useful tips about living your life."

"Okay, but if I get scared I have the right to hide," I inform her as the title sequence starts.

Throughout the movie, I barely got scared but there were a lot of bad words that I couldn't agree with. It's a little twisted though. For some reason, I couldn't stop holding onto her arm throughout the whole movie, even though I had a perfect reason to not hold her so close. Sam barely even minded; it's just like the other night when we were holding each other under the night sky until my legs start to fall asleep, but we're on a couch and I know my legs will not fall asleep.

By the time the movie ends though, I don't feel like getting up...and neither does she.

"Movie's over," I nudge her slightly, but she doesn't move. "I know you're not sleeping."

"But you're comfortable," Sam mutters, but she complies by shifting off me. I let go of her arm and get up, searching for the second movie of the night. Since we don't physically own it, I just set up the computer with the TV and search for the movie on my account.

"Tori suggested this movie," I tell her, while she stretches over the couch. I hear faint cracking throughout the short silence. "So I don't know what it's about."

"Me neither but it sounds hella cheesy," Sam replies. I find it, and press play, and while the computer plays the movie, there's a bigger screen right in front of us. "Let's just hope that Tori's suggestion doesn't suck." The title sequences come up, and we resume our position on the couch: my arms around her, and her head on my chest.

As I watch the movie, I couldn't help but notice her scoffs and low chuckles at the scenes and stereotypes, and I start laughing at some of the stupidity and some of the parts that were shown as sexual but I couldn't understand. Despite that, I should remind myself to scold Tori for even suggesting something like this, even if it does have a happy ending with everyone being happy and peppy, like every romantic comedy.

As the end credits roll in however, I try to get up, but I hear a light snore. I didn't even knew Sam fell asleep, especially when I kept my eyes on her for the first half of the movie. I let go of her and push her to the other side of the sofa delicately, while she keeps sleeping. I turn everything off but I change the channel to That's a Drag where they are showing the 'series finale' of the show. Since I'm not tired and it's not midnight, I start to watch it.

As the episode ends, she starts to stir, and her eyes flutter open. "Good evening sleeping beauty," I chuckle.

"It's finished already?" she asks in a very groggy voice.

"It was finished twenty minutes ago," I answer. She sits up, and starts stretching. "How long since you were asleep?"

"I dozed off when the two girls snuck off and had sex in some room," Sam yawns. "Started to get a bit too cliche for me. But, besides that crap of a movie, I do want to go to that karaoke place again...someday. Those buffalo nuggets were awesome."

"We should go and probably take any kid we're babysitting!" I suggest.

"Sure...we'll do that," she says uneasily. "Uh, anyway, we should go to bed. I'm tired and Mama needs her sleep. Without sleep is like being without fat cakes, even though I haven't had a fat cake since I've moved out of Seattle."

Fat cakes...gotta look into that…"Okay, let's go to sleep."

* * *

 

The store early this morning seems quiet, but I couldn't sleep and I had my computer with me to search for what stores had fat cakes. It's about five in the morning and besides the night scaring me with hoodlums, I still make it to the nearest store.

It's empty, but there are a few sleep-deprived guys standing around, staring at me suspiciously. The fat cakes are staring right back at me - a whole box full of regular fat cakes, low-fat fat cakes, fat-free fat cakes, and fat cakes that are white instead of pink. I grab all the regular fat cakes and walk over to the stand, where the guy stares at me questioningly.

"I like fat cakes," I state simply, even though it's on the contrary - I never tasted a fat cake, actually.

He shakes his head and puts all of the fat cakes in a bag. I take the bag and hand him the bit of money I actually own, and hastily walk back to my apartment. With a yawn, I enter the quiet apartment, and with two hours to spare until I have to go to school, I turn on the television and watch the thirty-minute infomercials of pajelehoochos and the sacks.

I barely know that two hours passed because the light comes on and I see Sam walking in the living room with bed hair. I get up and stand by the counter, filling it up with fat cakes. "Good morning!" I say cheerily.

"You're up early," Sam raises an eyebrow.

"Of course I am!" I exclaim, while she eyes the fat cakes on the counter. "Breakfast is served!"

"Fat cakes?" she questions, with a surprised look over to the fat cakes and at me. "I thought you guys didn't sell fat cakes!"

"Apparently there's a store nearby that sells fat cakes: low fat, fat-free, white fat cakes...just not a fat shake," I point out. "I just brought them a while back."

Her shocked facial expression turns amused. "Wow, I can't believe you brought me fat cakes, but I'm definitely not complaining." she unwraps one, and starts eating it. "Oh my god, it's been a while. It's been a long while." With a quick swallow, she's already done with her first fat cake.

"Glad you're enjoying them," I shake my head in amusement, closely watching her devour the second fat cake pretty quickly. "Don't eat them all at once though."

"Don't tell me what to do!" she muffles, her mouth covered with marshmallow and tinted coconut. With a deep swallow, she only gives me a toothy, fat-caked grin.

"You got a little coconut on your face," I point out, while gesturing to her mouth. Sam doesn't even have the time to wipe it, because I walk over to the other side and wipe the stuff off her face with a dry napkin. "There you are. Your face is fat-cake-free." She still has the grin on her face, but it falters as we keep staring at each other. I only grimace and walk further away from her, to get my books and belongings to go to school in the next few minutes.

Of course we would enter this state of awkwardness again, but I don't think she would grasp the issue on how staring at each other would now be awkward. All I know is that she appreciates me taking her to try buffalo nuggets, and getting her fat cakes for breakfast. That's actions normally done for a friend, but this would be a little more meaningful for me, for her to notice me a bit more than normal.

I sigh and leave my room, where she's eating her third (or fourth, I don't really know) fat cake while waiting for her online classes to start in another half-hour. I see the single fat cake in the opened wrapper, so I take it and start eating it. It tastes so sugary, like marshmallow-coconut heaven.

"This is really good!" I exclaim, breaking the silence.

Sam glances at me and starts chuckling. "You've never had a fat cake?"

"No, I never had a fat cake until now," I reveal. I continue to eat it, while she keeps laughing. "It's not funny! I only use my money to buy chocolate and candy...and twelve feet worth of licorice, not fat cakes!"

"Welcome to the world of fat cakes!" Sam jokes.

"Yay!" I cheer, while secretly taking two fat cakes from the counter and putting them in my bag. She barely notices, because she's only petting Murf who jumps on her lap. "See you later!" I cheer, running over to her and giving her a short hug.

"Not a hugger," she frowns. I let go immediately, and I purposefully, but lightly, kiss her on the cheek before speedingly skipping out of the apartment. I hear her yell my name once and I ignore it, already pedaling over to school. Of course, that will not stop her from texting me, but I'm not texting and pedaling.

That could be dangerous, too.

 


	10. One and Only

"Did you have fun on your date with butter-sock girl?" I jump in mid-air, after hearing the threatening voice of Jade in my ear, her breath tickling my neck. I hear her chuckle behind me while I put my bag in my locker. "Seems like you were; you were blushing throughout the whole date."

"It wasn't a date," I reply, feeling a tinge of hurt since it wasn't much of a date to begin with. "It was only two girls hanging out with each other. We used to do that all the time, remember?"

"Yeah, but you never grinned so hard like last night," Jade points out, raising her studded eyebrow intimidatingly. "For a moment there, I thought you liked her."

I freeze in place; how could Jade figure that out in a moment? She probably thinks I'm falling for her, but I'm not. (not yet.) All I know is that I like Sam a lot; she makes me happy, sad, and giggly all at the same time. She makes my stomach fill up with butterflies and my heart flutter with anticipation and general care, and the two (probably three) times I kissed her were the _greatest_ kisses in my life.

"Oh my god, you _do_ like Sam!" she gasps, her eyes wide with shock.

"No!" I argue a little too quickly. "She's just my friend! Why does it matter to you anyway; you clearly stated that you hated Sam because she was too violent for me."

"That doesn't mean that I can't see that you clearly like her more than you should!" Jade whispers, so no one besides me can hear it. "Now I completely understand the dialogue between you and Robbie for that stage break-up assignment, and why he's been acting so weird."

I can't believe Jade already figured it out - god, am I that obvious? Robbie figured it out, but Tori was surprised to find that out (then again, she was still surprised that I went to a Northridge party). "But I - what - I have to go to class!" I say quickly, but I don't run away any faster because she immediately grabs my hand to hold me back.

"No you don't; Sikowitz doesn't care if we're missing," she deadpans. I keep trying to loosen her grip, but she doesn't budge one bit. "Anyway, we need to have a chat."

"About whatie?" I question, with an innocent face.

"You know whatie!" she growls, and pulls me over to the janitor's closet. I follow her begrudgingly against my will, and we enter the bleach-smelling cubicle, where she closes it behind her and then looks at me for a moment. "I just want to know why. She's violent; she isn't even your type!"

"She isn't even violent!" I argue, even though that's a little far from the truth. I know a small amount of Sam's criminal record, and that was because during her first days here. she was having a conversation with her former parole officer.

"Anyone who keeps a weapon at all times, had a parole officer, and a criminal record is violent," she states back, fire in her tone. "Seriously, do you see the warning signs?"

"Okay, she was violent back then," I relent matter-of-factly; "But that doesn't mean she's always violent, or violent to me. Most of her actions were to protect her friends, and because she had a troubled past. May I also mention that _you_ also keep a weapon, or should I say weapons, on you at all times?"

"This is not about me—"

I interrupt before she says anything, "Yeah? Because it seems like the both of you have something in common. and you don't want to admit that!" Jade's angry expression turns into a shocked expression, (since I'm not known to stand up to her,) but it doesn't stop me. "You may not like her, but I do. She's everything to me; she's my friend, my roommate, my babysitting partner...and if we are more than that, I would like for you to set aside your hatred for her and actually give her a chance. She's not Tori. She will not steal your boyfriend, or your friends."

"She stole you from me," she whimpers, but I still hear her.

" _Sam_ never done anything to you," I point out. " _You_ stopped calling and texting back; the only time you texted me was last night when I was with her. _You_ stopped wanting to be my friend and go on adventures that didn't involve Beck or anyone else; you would either go to Tori to sabotage her sister's acting debut, or not go at all."

She stays silent, with a hesitant look. I barely ever stand up for myself, so I'm surprised too, but now things are different. At first, it's about Sam; but now it's different. I don't want to leave her by herself in here, but I really want to get to class, and I feel like she would just kick me out for 'yelling' at her. "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too," I reply, after the short silence.

"I didn't know you felt that way," Jade sighs dejectedly, while she starts to pace. "Look, you wouldn't have liked it if I took you to Trina's 'acting debut' because it wasn't acting; she was running around the set wearing a block of cheese as a uniform. Even I felt sorry for her. And I've been busy - you know it's our last year here!"

"I know, but why can't we make it enjoyable by the six of us hanging out with each other?" I wonder out loud. "You did say this would be a great year now that Trina's studying criminal justice at USC so you don't have to hear her vocal exercises, and Sinjin moved to Canada for college, so he won't have time to stalk you." Seemingly last year, Trina (and Sinjin after thw follower incident) didn't even want to hang out with us (well, besides me for Trina, and Beck for Sinjin) so I shouldn't say that.

Jade shakes her head, with a guilty look. "I did say that, but I don't know now because you have a job, Tori's trying to cope with her parents splitting up, Robbie's trying to get over some stupid thing that's bothering him, which I realize now that it's you liking someone else, and I'm looking intensely at performing arts colleges...we're all busy. So, I don't know if we would actually make time. But when we do, trust me, it won't be our last."

"And you'll get along with Sam for my sake?" I ask hopefully.

"Don't get your hopes up, baby girl," she pats my head, but I know she would definitely try. We both leave the janitor's closet, but it's way too late to go to class. "Don't get your hopes up."

* * *

 

I reach the apartment after a long day of school, and I see Sam sleeping on the couch, with her computer on and I distinctly see brunette and honey blond hair on their arms, probably sleeping too. How Sam fell asleep, I don't know, but apparently the person she's Skyping is sleeping too.

I close the door, and she immediately wakes up. "Don't take my ham!" she yells, and looks around then stops at the screen. "Ugh - Carly, wake up! We fell asleep."

"I'm already up, thanks to you yelling at someone not to take your ham," Carly frowns, and starts rubbing her eyes to get the sleep from her face. "It's so late here, and I have school in the morning, so I should go."

"Yeah, I'm expecting Cat to walk in—"

"I'm right here, silly!" I giggle, and practically bounce on top of her. "Hi Carly! I'm Cat! Nice to meet you! How's Italy? Is it beautiful? You know, my family's actually from Italy, but my brother says we're Sicilian. I always thought they were the same but he makes it seem like they're different! One time my brother—"

My rambling is cut short when Sam puts a hand over my mouth. "Licking it won't help; I did this all the time with Freddie. Not to mention that we shared saliva, twice, so I'm not going to be disgusted by your tongue."

"Dang-it!" I try to say, but it's muffled by her hand.

After a quick goodbye, they both sign off, and my mouth is still covered by her hand. "Now, normally I would let go of your mouth, but I fear that more than ever," she states. "But I have to because we can't stay like this." She removes my hand, and the only thing I do is giggle.

"How was your day?" I ask nonchalantly, to kill the silence.

"It was okay, until I fell asleep on my best friend while we Skype and try to keep up with international time," she replies.

"Oh," I rasp, and get up from the couch so I can do my homework.

"You know, I forgot to thank you for buying fat cakes for me," she says, which causes me to stop abruptly, and turn around. She has a small smirk on her face, with a tint of red. "I thought that was really...awesome for you to do. I thought they didn't sell them here."

"Oh, you're welcome!" I grin. "I know how much you love fat cakes so...yeah."

"No no no, I want to show you how thankful I am." I don't know what she means by that since it's just fat cakes, but of course, she did tell me how much she loves those fat cakes. Her smirk fades even more and she reaches for my hand to pull me close.

With her other hand, she tucks a stray hair out of my face, and then cups it. Slowly, she leans closer and she closes the gap between us. I can only feel the butterflies and flutters as she actually kisses me, since I initiated the last one, (the first one she was drunk,) and I happily kiss back with a small giggle in my throat.

The kiss gets deeper, and I pull her closer to me, our bodies against each other. She said she was thankful, but I know that my friends wouldn't kiss me out of being thankful, so I pull away, and she whimpers. I give her a look, and the only thing she does is blush.

"I was going to tell you when we were sitting at the patio, but then I panicked and started talking about how LA is no different from Seattle about the night sky," she rambles, while pacing the room. "Then, I tried telling Carly earlier, but she didn't understand at all so I changed the subject and we started talking about other things, hence why we fell asleep—"

I stop her by grabbing her shoulders, and staring at her eyes. "What are you talking about?"

"You," Sam points out. "I don't know what this is, but...lately, feels happened, and I...god, I can't do this. I like you, Cat. I _fucking_ like you. Excuse my language, but _that's_ what I'm talking about. That's why I didn't scream 'not a hugger' lately when we cuddle. That's why I kissed you just now, and felt like kissing you this morning for getting me fat cakes, or basically this whole weekend. You...you're more than a friend to me, and I feel like an idiot because...I don't know, but I do."

Sam felt the same way? I can barely wrap my head around it, especially when I'm still high from her kissing me. I breathe a very large sigh, hoping that things would get clearer. "You shouldn't feel like an idiot."

"Why shouldn't I?" she interrogates, with a raised eyebrow.

"Because, I liked you for a while now," I reply confidently, and I hug her closely. "I was just trying to figure out how to tell you, because I thought you would figure it out or that you would feel weird because I actually felt something during that drunken kiss."

Without hesitation, she hugs me back, and we just stand there, hugging each other for a very long time, with no interruptions, except when I remember when we're babysitting Max, Chloe, and Darby later. I don't want to let go at all, so I don't, and it seems like she doesn't either. Even if we do, it would be hard to keep our hands off each other.

"Wait, what does that make us?" I ask, while hoping she would say something more than friends.

"This, makes me your one and only." She lets go of me, and kisses me again, sweetly.


	11. Fancy Dating (Epilogue)

My hair flies freely, while we take the long way to school. It's been one month since Sam and I became girlfriends, and she's been taking me to school much more often. She's picking me up from school, and we've been on a couple of dates that none of our friends have interrupted or showed up (except for that one date two days ago where I saw Trina with her 'study date') but all of them already know.

I'm surprised to see that they support me rather than hate me (especially Jade) but I guess since we're all good friends, we would support each other no matter what.

Sam parks right next to the Asphalt Cafe, where I see Tori, and Andre sitting next to each other with coffee in front of them. I get off the motorcycle, and place the extra helmet on the seat. "Thanks for taking me to school," I grin, while she keeps her helmet on and her hands on the motorcycle handles.

"No need to thank me, red," Sam replies. "You know I only do it out of...care."

I giggle, and kiss her shortly. "Good times!"

"Happy days," she references back, giving me a kiss on my nose before speeding back home. I wave back, while watching her figure disappear from my peripheral vision.

I turn over to my friends, and they're grinning from ear to ear. "You two look cuter than ever," Tori says, while twirling her hair in one hand. "When's the wedding?"

"There's gonna be a wedding?" I ask out of context, with my mouth wide open. "Where? Who are the lucky couple? Is it Beck and Jade?"

Andre just pats me on the shoulder and fixes his grin. "Never change."

"Kay kay!" I laugh, while they both get up and we enter the school together. School doesn't start for a few minutes, so we just hang out in the hallways. "Where's Jade?"

"She's coming late today; says she has an important audition she has to attend upstate," Tori replies, sipping her coffee nonchalantly. "I assume Beck is there for moral support, or because Jade forced him to tag along. I don't know - beats me hearing about their first-world problems again."

"She still isn't mad at you for slapping Beck during that break-up exercise, is she?" I question, with a bit of worry. even though it's been a month since, Jade's been known to hold grudges. Of course, she gets over them when she realizes how stupid they are. "You didn't mean it when you did, right?"

"No, I just really like saying that," she giggles, but none of us join her.

I look at her weirdly. "I don't get it."

* * *

 

"EXTREME ACTING" is the first thing I see on the board when I walk inside the classroom, even though we already had a few days of this acting. I really enjoy this class, and I can't wait to do whatever he has planned for us to do.

"Extreme acting is not Disney acting - however, they are slightly similar," Sikowitz starts the class, with some giggles from us. "Its like...take this coconut for example." He raises the coconut in front of him, while I hear some scoffs. "This coconut just found out that I've been drinking from other coconuts. Instead of taking it rationally, the coconut will freak out in ways that shouldn't be legal."

"So what you're saying is—"

Instead of hearing the rest, he throws a piece of chalk at one of the 'shruggers' that actually talked. "What was that for?"

"No, you're doing it wrong!" Sikowitz exclaims, with extreme anger that didn't seem necessary, but i know he was just showing us a demonstration on what he means. "You're supposed to get _extreme_! _Up_ the _ante_! Chew your scenery as if the scene was chewing gum! That is what I really mean!"

I wanna try that! "Yay, seems fun!" I cheer happily.

"You see? Cat is perfect at extreme acting!" he exclaims, and steps off the makeshift stage. "Alright, to get your bloods pumping, let's do some drive-by acting. You are all police officers with thick, _exaggerated_ accents!"

"Can we go for some Raisin Bran later?" Tori asks, with a strong New York accent, to a shrugger next to her, with the same accent she used for a method-acting assignment years ago. "I could really eat some right now."

"Hands where I can see 'em!" I yell, in a thick Hispanic accent.

"You have the right to remain silent!" I hear Robbie say next to me with a Southern-Redneck accent, and I try not to laugh at the failed attempt. "Anything you say or do will be used against you."

"Donuts sound good, eh?" Andre drawls in an exaggerated Canadian accent.

The drive-by exercise goes on for a few minutes, with others attempting different types of accents, especially me trying to attempt the Jewish mother accent, and Robbie got so scared that he broke out of character and started sobbing uncontrollably. Even though we haven't talked much since the small argument last month, but something tells me he's trying to come to terms with how things are changing.

Things are definitely changing, for the better.

* * *

 

The day goes by really fast, and instead of waiting for me outside, I see Sam standing by my locker, with a small grin on her face. I run up to her and hug her tight, and she instantly hugs me back. "Yay, you waited for me by my locker!"

"Yeah, you just texted me to wait by your locker," she says, raising an eyebrow.

"I didn't think you'd actually do it," I giggle, and I take her hand as we walk outside the building. There's no babysitting today, so I decided that we should go out on another date. (A real date; with fancy clothes, and shoes, and food, and everything in between!) "So my friends thought it would be a great idea to give the 'ping pong' money for us to go somewhere special."

"Ping pong? You guys have a ping pong team?" she questions.

I giggle again as we both get on the motorcycle and speed off home to change, then to the place I always go every year when we go to a 'ping pong game'. Last week we received the money, but everyone agreed that I deserve the money to take Sam out somewhere fun, even though we can already get enough money thanks to babysitting. "No silly, actually we use the money to go to a fancy restaurant and the rest goes for a trophy we buy for the school so we can prove that we won. Even though our old principal retired, we still do it for old times' sake."

"Ah," Sam nods understandingly, keeping her eyes on the road. "So you wanna treat Mama to a fancy date?"

"I told you this already!" I giggle again. "Oh, and wear a fancy dress!"

"I rather wear an adult diaper," she frowns.

I frown back - I know she doesn't like wearing girly clothes, but I don't want her to show up wearing jeans! Before we did this again, Jade didn't tell Tori to wear a dress so Tori only wore the suggested ping-pong outfit, and we all received stares until they swapped clothes. I also thought they banned us, but I'm guessing they just banned the group and I'm barely recognizable from the last time I was there, so I guess I won't get kicked out. "Oh come on Sam, it's a fancy restaurant. You can't wear anything else!"

* * *

 

"I can't believe you're wearing something else," I frown deeply, looking at Sam with a makeshift tuxedo on.

"I'm just kidding, baby," Sam laughs, and reaches over with wide-open arms, but I turn around and recoil. "Fine, I'll change! But you better not take pictures and share it to your friends or on the Slap or Facesgram or whatever you use."

"I promise," I grin, and she disappears into our shared room to change. Half an hour later, she steps out of our room, with one of my sparkly dresses on, and her hair in a tight bun, and without any makeup on. "Oh, that's so much better!" I beam, pulling out my phone and snapping photos that I'm sure will be on my phone for a long time.

"Ugh, I feel like a daffodil, again!" Sam groans, pulling the hem of the dress. It's a little loose on her since she's a size smaller than me.

I smirk brightly, giving her a small peck on the lips. "Embrace your inner daffodility, again."

"Gee, who else said that to me when I wore a dress to impress a guy years ago?" she deadpans, and then grabs her helmet from the table. "So where is this magical place? Mama's starved."

"It's not too far from here, but I'll give you the directions."

Upon reaching the fancy restaurant, we're both nervous with each step towards our table of two. There's a huge change with the decoration, and the staff, and there's not a picture of me or the rest of the gang on the banned list at the coat rack. Either they moved it or we're not banned anymore.

Sam pulls my chair out, and I blush before taking a seat. She sits down across from me and looks at the menu in front of her. "Dude, these prices. Do we have a budget?"

"Not over 700," I reply, even though we have more than enough to cover dinner and then some.

"So, no dessert?" she pouts playfully, and I laugh. "I was hoping for the specialty dessert right here." Sam turns the menu over to me, and points over to the dessert part, which is a dessert sampler for two. It does seem less expensive, and dinner doesn't cost that much anyway.

"Okay, but only for you," I relent, and barely look at the menu - I already know what I want. I've been here more than once and I enjoy the same thing every time I come here. I watch her look at the different types of food that they serve here. I also watch how she groans at how we have to stay by our budget despite how good they sound.

"I think I made my decision."

Dinner's really quiet, but as soon as our dessert comes, she's grinning and looking at the platter in front of us - different cakes and small pies, as well as fried ice cream, all for two people. Sam picks up a piece of the fried ice cream and reaches over to my mouth. I open and take a slow bite, while she's raising both of her eyebrows and her mouth slightly ajar. It tastes so good once it hits my taste buds and I hum in delight. "This is really good."

"Is it?" she then retracts and takes a bite. "You're right, this _is_ good...green tea flavored."

"I told you." I pick up a dessert fork, dip into a slice of black-forest cake, and move the fork towards Sam's mouth. She opens it and eats it slowly, slower than how I eat the fried ice cream. "You like it?"

"Mama like," Sam replies, and we both start feeding each other out of nowhere, ignoring the looks from passersby. I smile widely throughout the rest of the date, knowing that this is a perfect ending to a date - just being ourselves.

To think, this all started with a drunken kiss, and now we're here...it's different, yet the best thing that's happened to me for a while. I couldn't be happier.


End file.
